The New York Times Wednesday called the Pennsylvania House special election for the Democratic candidate Conor Lamb, saying his razor-thin lead over GOP candidate Rick Saccone "appeared insurmountable."

Lamb held a 627-vote lead Wednesday afternoon, with four counties in Pennsylvania’s 18th district having 500 provisional, military and other absentee ballots left to count, election officials said, the Times reported.

Saccone may still contest the outcome, but Lamb’s lead “appeared insurmountable,” the Times reported.

Almost 230,000 ballots were cast in a district that President Donald Trump carried by nearly 20 percentage points in 2016 — nonetheless upended the political landscape ahead of November’s midterm elections. It also emboldened Democrats to run maverick campaigns even in deep-red areas where Republicans remain bedeviled by Mr. Trump’s unpopularity.

Republican officials in Washington said they’d likely demand a recount through litigation, the Times reported.

Matt Gorman, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the party was “not conceding anything.”

Lamb declared victory at his election night party on Tuesday, where he thanked supporters after being introduced as the "congressman-elect."

The New York Times Wednesday called the Pennsylvania House special election for the Democratic candidate Conor Lamb, saying his razor-thin lead over GOP candidate Rick Saccone "appeared insurmountable."Lamb held a 627-vote lead Wednesday afternoon, with four counties in...